Daniel Everett
Linguist and author
Daniel Everett is an American linguist who spent about four decades living and working among the Pirahã. He wrote Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes.
1 summary 17 min of listening
Born 1951 in Holtville, United States
About Daniel Everett
Daniel Everett was born in 1951 in Holtville, California. He spent more than 30 years in the jungles of Brazil, working with over a dozen tribal groups. He is especially known for his lengthy study of the Pirahã language. He has published 13 books, covering linguistic theory, everyday life in the rainforest, and descriptions of endangered languages. Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes tells of life and language in the Amazonian jungle. A play based on his life premiered in London in 2016, and a documentary, The Grammar of Happiness, was released in 2012. Everett has held posts in linguistics and anthropology at several universities, including the University of Campinas, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Manchester and Illinois State University. He has also served as dean of arts and sciences at Bentley University in Waltham.